Alchemy

Lake was studying his new alchemy function while walking home and he discovered that every time he got a new recipe, he'd first have to make the elixir on his own with assistance from the system. Afterwards, the system would register it as a recipe and be able to make it instantly as long as the ingredients were provided.

The system explained that he was only a first level alchemist at the moment, and the way to level up was to gather more recipes and concoct the elixirs.

There were also recipes that were available for purchase, and these came ready to make with the ingredients. They were purchasable using the EXP he just earned.

Looking through the list he saw many different recipes of all different types. There were those like the body strengthening elixir and others that could increase energy absorption speed. The more potent the elixir the more EXP they costed.

The more expensive elixirs were obviously more powerful yet Lake didn't have access to those at the

moment since his level was too low.

Lake sighed when thinking that he was stressing out on trying to find ways to purchase elixirs earlier yet now he had access to hundreds of different kinds. He felt that his efforts had gone to waste, but his exasperation didn't last long as he was more happy with the system.

Seeing all these different elixirs he wanted to see if there were any that could cure illnesses. Lake was surprised to see that there was only one result.

But considering he had only just unlocked the function it made more sense. And it only costed 5 EXP to purchase. This once caused Lake to think that this was made intentional by the system.

He was truly unsure of whether this was a coincidence or if this was something that the system was helping him with.

To this Lake could only shake his head, there was not much he could do about it with his strength.

Lake had read that an alchemist's elixirs would only work for certain levels of Espers. So a first level alchemist's elixirs would only work for Copper Espers. And every corresponding level had elixirs that worked for the next stage.

The recipe was about an elixir called the Cleansing Elixir. It's use was to clear the body of any harmful bacteria. This was mainly a recipe for illnesses as well so it wouldn't work on other strange status effects such as poison.

However, the elixir didn't work on Espers, it would only have an effect on ordinary humans, hence the low cost.

Without thinking anything further Lake purchased the recipe. As soon as he purchased it, information on the ingredients and steps to prepare it were engraved into his mind.

All that was left to do was to go purchase the ingredients and concoct the elixir.

Luckily the ingredients weren't too difficult to find nor were they expensive, any old pharmacy could hold the things he needed.

On the way home he stopped by a random pharmacy and one by one picked up the herbs and other things he would use.

The elixir mostly required herbs that had a healing effect, these herbs were very easy to find as there was an extreme abundance of them as well. So taking advantage of it he picked up about 5 sets of them.

With the herbs in hand he left the store before finding a secluded area and quietly putting them all in his inventory.

Since he had gotten it this was the first time he realized how useful it was.

With it he didn't have to waste time carrying a bag around, and also the herbs were delicate things so stuffing them into a cramped bag wouldn't have been good.

In his room, Lake sat at his desk while he had strewn all the herbs onto it. He had only five chances to concoct it, but he wasn't under too much pressure, if he failed he would just go back to buy more.

But when he thought about the idea of using more money, he felt his heart physically ache.

Shaking his head he activated the alchemy function of the system. He had no idea what would happen when he activated it.

As soon as he willed it his vision was sent into his mind and he stood inside a completely empty white space. In front of him was the basic necessities that an alchemist would need. Things like beakers, test tubes, and a small burner.

Though the things inside weren't too extravagant it was enough to make the elixir that he wanted.

Surprisingly he was able to bring in the herbs he had bought into the alchemy space. Even though Lake was surprised he'd become slightly used to the system's law-breaking capabilities.

Grabbing the first herb he threw it onto burner and watched as it dried out then crushed it and extracted it's essence, from there it was simply just following the recipe.

Each time he drew out the herbal essence he would have to add it into a beaker and mix it thoroughly.

As Lake added in the last essence the beaker shook and suddenly expelled a cloud of blue gas, leaving behind some small sludge.

"Damn it. I added too much blue grass essence, I underestimated how meticulous I'd have to be." Rubbing his temple, he saw the system had already cleaned the station for him.

He continued experimenting, but the next couple of trials were failures as well. It wasn't until the 4th trial that he successfully added in the right amount of essences.

But Lake wasn't excited as expected, as the real difficulty was here. The recipe had stated that after adding all the essences and mixing them together he should end up with a light blue liquid, which was in front of Lake right now.

But now he would have to use his energy to further refine the herbs and infuse them with his energy to allow the compounds within them to strengthen each other and complete the Cleansing Elixir.

This was the most difficult step in the whole process, requiring a great amount of control of energy.

Steadying his hands he placed them over the beaker. He quietly activated the vortex in his body to draw in energy, except that he controlled the energy to move towards the concoction instead.

Slowly the mixture was brought into the air with the energy, absorbing the energy around it and began glowing slightly.

The glow was radiating outwards quietly while the essence inside grew purer and more concentrated as time went on.

Finally at the final moment Lake felt a jolt in body and the energy vortex collapsed. Following that the mixture in the air flashed in a bright light and the entire mixture fell to the ground and evaporated.

"Agh, damn it!" Lake gasped for breath while cursing in a low breath. The act of controlling his energy within the mixture took more stamina than he thought.